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Official use taxi tickets given to snack hostesses

Date Posted: 2007-11-16

A former Japanese Self Defense Force worker is under investigation for giving official government taxi coupons to women working in local snack bars.
The taxi tickets are provided by the government for official travel use by its workers. The vouchers are given to taxi drivers, and the fare amount filled in, after which the driver receives compensation from the government. Tsutomu Sato, who worked as an Okinawa district officer, has been charged with giving tickets to unauthorized users.
Sato admitted “the tickets I have were just a few times given.” He says he didn’t give full packets or bundles to the ladies, but “not like ¥10,000 or more. Maybe only ¥1,500 or a little bit more.” He hasn’t told government officials exactly how many he gave out, or how much those vouchers cost the government.
The Ministry of Self Defense confirms Sato has admitted it’s true, and that he told them “I had my private reasons” for doing it. The Ministry confirms it hasn’t checked how many coupons were used for Sato’s personal use.